TV tuner with FreeNAS

[andrewjs18]

I didn't see much discussions on this and what I did see was quite old..

I have an aging HTPC that's probably 6ish years old or so now. my FreeNAS box is way more powerful and has A LOT of storage, ~12TB of storage sitting idle or so.

I have a ceton tv tuner that'll only work with windows 7 & 8 drivers.

Is there any solution here with FreeNAS? Can I install windows 7 in a jail so I can load up the drivers for my tv tuner card and then use plex to handle the rest?

 

[m0nkey_]

You could use a HDHomeRun in conjunction with Plex running in a jail.

 

[andrewjs18]

You could use a HDHomeRun in conjunction with Plex running in a jail.

While that'd probably work fine, I'd prefer to physically install my tv tuner inside my FreeNAS server.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[m0nkey_]

While that'd probably work fine, I'd prefer to physically install my tv tuner inside my FreeNAS server

There is no support for TV tuners in FreeNAS.

 

[Stux]

And I'd be highly doubtful that PCIe pass-through of a TV Tuner to a Windows VM would work

Maybe if you were running ESXi...

 

[andrewjs18]

There is no support for TV tuners in FreeNAS.

that's what I figured. I wasn't sure if installing windows 7 in a VM jail would allow it to work or not.

And I'd be highly doubtful that PCIe pass-through of a TV Tuner to a Windows VM would work

Maybe if you were running ESXi...

yeah, I wasn't sure it'd work at all, but I guess it can't hurt to at least ask.

as a compromise, I may pick up an SSD and use dd to copy the current OS from the HTPC onto the SSD device and then move my HDDs from my HTPC into the freenas box and uset up network shares for storage...hmnnn

 

[Stux]

I've considered using USB tuners to Linux/Windows VMs before to accomplish this...

Might work with Bhyve, will most likely work with ESXi.

 

[andrewjs18]

I've considered using USB tuners to Linux/Windows VMs before to accomplish this...

Might work with Bhyve, will most likely work with ESXi.

will the usb tuners work with premium channels? I don't think they will...I could be wrong though!

 

[scrappy]

I know you stated prior that you prefer a physically installed TV tuner. Will just say I felt the same until forcing myself to buy an HDHomerun EXTEND tuner box then realizing how much more versatile it is compared to my old HTPC with a PCIe TV tuner card. I can use almost any network connected device such as my phone, PC, or the jail I have running Plex on to stream TV without having to rely on a specialized HTPC setup.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[andrewjs18]

I know you stated prior that you prefer a physically installed TV tuner. Will just say I felt the same until forcing myself to buy an HDHomerun EXTEND tuner box then realizing how much more versatile it is compared to my old HTPC with a PCIe TV tuner card. I can use almost any network connected device such as my phone, PC, or the jail I have running Plex on to stream TV without having to rely on a specialized HTPC setup.

Just my 2 cents.

the thing is, my old tv tuner (5-6 years old now) allows me to record 4 live shows at once. from what I can tell, hdhomerun's best device only allows you to do 3 at a time.

I thought maybe I'd look into using 2 of the EXTEND tuners, but from what I can tell, it won't do live digital cable - I'm assuming it'll only do OTA tv?

 

[scrappy]

the thing is, my old tv tuner (5-6 years old now) allows me to record 4 live shows at once. from what I can tell, hdhomerun's best device only allows you to do 3 at a time.

I thought maybe I'd look into using 2 of the EXTEND tuners, but from what I can tell, it won't do live digital cable - I'm assuming it'll only do OTA tv?

Yes. The EXTEND tuner is only for OTA. You might look at the HDHomerun Prime for cable TV.

 

[andrewjs18]

Yes. The EXTEND tuner is only for OTA. You might look at the HDHomerun Prime for cable TV.

that only has 3 tuners while my current card has 4...so I'd be taking a step backwards rather than moving up.

 

[melloa]

the thing is, my old tv tuner (5-6 years old now) allows me to record 4 live shows at once.

Not going to make fun of you using those old tuners ... mine is as old as yours. Unfortunately there are no drivers for it for Linux/FreeBSD/Mac, so on the same boat as you. I just keep a small htpc box with a single ssd for shows recording and media player for my TV.

If going the esx(i) route make sure you can by-pass it. It is not esx(i) the only variable to be considered, the server motherboard is as important as for that to work (maybe an added cost, so back to htpc ;) ).

 

[scrappy]

that only has 3 tuners while my current card has 4...so I'd be taking a step backwards rather than moving up.

Depending on your end goal, you may not have many options.

Buy two HDHR Primes. That way you're almost two steps ahead ;)

 

[tvsjr]

I guess I don't understand the trend of everyone asking "can I do X with FreeNAS"? It's a NAS, and a damn good one. Use it for that. If you want a TV tuner PC, do that... use FreeNAS for storage across a network if that's important to you.

 

[adrianwi]

that only has 3 tuners while my current card has 4...so I'd be taking a step backwards rather than moving up.

1 less tuner, but something that's going to work with everything across your network. I'd say a few steps forward and maybe 1 back?

Just to add, I've been more than happy with my HDHomeRun device :D

 

[melloa]

I guess I don't understand the trend of everyone asking "can I do X with FreeNAS"? It's a NAS, and a damn good one. Use it for that. If you want a TV tuner PC, do that... use FreeNAS for storage across a network if that's important to you.

Don't disagree with you in any way, on the contrary. @ home I run two FreeNAS as NAS (Main and Back-up), two esx(I) (Main and Back-up), two pfSense (main on-line, back-up off-line and ready to assume function), but users are always looking for what to do with their boxes, a nice GUI, etc, etc. That's when you see everybody, not only ix, getting jails, plugins. dockers, etc, etc, so the trend.

If ix jump off the wagon, it will lose market to Qnap, Synology ... I guess at the end is if you know better, you do what you (and I) are saying and, on top of that, use good hardware ;)

 

[andrewjs18]

Not going to make fun of you using those old tuners ... mine is as old as yours. Unfortunately there are no drivers for it for Linux/FreeBSD/Mac, so on the same boat as you. I just keep a small htpc box with a single ssd for shows recording and media player for my TV.

If going the esx(i) route make sure you can by-pass it. It is not esx(i) the only variable to be considered, the server motherboard is as important as for that to work (maybe an added cost, so back to htpc ;) ).

I'll probably end up keeping my htpc around, removing the HDD from it, moving them to my freenas box and then just installing a small SSD for the OS.

I guess I don't understand the trend of everyone asking "can I do X with FreeNAS"? It's a NAS, and a damn good one. Use it for that. If you want a TV tuner PC, do that... use FreeNAS for storage across a network if that's important to you.

the thing is, the freenas gui itself has created the 'will it freenas' question..

1 less tuner, but something that's going to work with everything across your network. I'd say a few steps forward and maybe 1 back?

Just to add, I've been more than happy with my HDHomeRun device :D

maybe, but I think I can also use plex with my current set up as well.

 

[Chris230291]

Not to dig up a old thing but I am looking to do the same. Ordered a tuner amd we will see what happens. Followed this here to get TVH up and running. Just need to see if the tuner will be detected. https://gist.github.com/dreamcat4/f0e61d35f656afde5df6